Tampa was rad. Vert was won by Rune Gliffburg, then Bucky Lasek, then Bob Burnquist.

Street was won by Kyle Berard, 2nd was Steve Berra, Eric Koston in 3rd.

But dude, the gnarliest event was the death loop they had built for the
competition, 14 ft loop with a 16ft drop-in leading towards it. The
first 3 people to do it without the safety padding at the bottom were
awarded $1,000 each. I was scared for everyone who was going to try it.

Here's the list: Burnquist, Peter Hewitt, Lance Mountain, Remy
Stratton, Al Partenen, Jake Brown and Brian Schaeffer. Every one had
some good slams with and without the safety padding. Here's who made it, in order:
1. Al Partanien
2. Peter Hewitt
3. Bob Burnquist
4. Jake Brown

Every time someone new made it the crowd went wild. Jake took some
gnarly slams before he made it, it was awesome. Al and Hewitt had
already made it before, three years ago, when they filmed "The End" on Tony's ramp. It was a first for Bob and Jake!

Then Lance and Remy gave up because it was just too gnarly and they
couldn't get the right technique. Lance had a gnarly bail into the pads
where he over pumped and flipped twice before slamming to the bottom, and that was the end of his attempts, but he came away injured free. I'm proud of him for even attempting it.

Then Bob wanted to do it switch stance, Peter Hewitt gave it a try as
well going switch and on his first attempt he flew off the side, upside
down, and landed off the ramp. He hit his head and got knocked out.
That was Ambulance Trip Number One.

Then after that whole ordeal, Bob got back up there to try it switch
again, and Brian Schaefer gots up to try it some more. Bob decided
to take the pads out to go for it. Bob bailed, then Brian came up for
his try. It was the scariest thing I've ever seen. Upside down, he
stopped and whipped out, flipping to the bottom on his head and side. He looked like a rag doll falling off a building, it made my stomach sick.
I felt so bad for him as people gathered around trying to make sure he was awake and okay, completely knocked out and finger bleeding. The Medics were on the scene again, giving him oxygen and then he was carried away to the hospital, Ambulance Trip Number Two.

After that ordeal it started to rain a little and people cleared out to
hear the street results inside the park. Then Bob got back up on the
roll in ramp and started to attempt it switch again. People are like
'What are you doing?' after many attempts, getting closer and closer with no padding on the ramp for safety. After eight tries Bob finally rolled away switch! Everyone who had gathered back to the loop as he attempted it went wild. It was amazing, but scary at the same time, Bob is unbelievable!

Well, I guess you'll hear all about it later.
Take care,
CAB